Monday, January 9, 2012

Biggest Threat to Humanity?

The increasing temperatures and changing weather patterns might be a clue. Increasing tensions between Iran and the US might lead some of you to think nuclear war. Others may think of earthquakes and tsunamis. Food shortages. But no! According to Pope Benedict XVI, one of the biggest threats to humanity is gay marriage!

Pope Benedict labelled gay marriage a threat to 'the future of humanity itself'. On the 9th of January, 2012, in an address to diplomats from across the world [1], the pope extolled the virtues of a traditional family based on the marriage of a man and a woman. "Pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman. Policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," he said.

And this is coming from a man who has pardoned pedophilia among members of his clergy. And I'm not talking about isolated incidents. Child molestation has been prevalent in the Catholic Church for a long time now. The John Jay report [2] determined that between 1950 and 2002, 4392 priests in the United States alone have had substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct with minors made against them. That's an alarming number. I wouldn't be hard pressed to imagine that there are at least hundreds of other non-reported incidents. As is often the case, many children don't report such inappropriate advances by priests out of shame or fear and the actual number may be much higher.

The Church's response in most such cases after 2002 has been to send the offending priests to seek psychiatric treatment. They were not reported to the authorities for legal persecution. After treatment, the priests were simply moved to another parish where they still had contact with children. Yet, the threat to humanity comes from gays having the same rights as every one else. How utterly shameful.

If the pope's concern is procreation, the significant majority of human beings are still heterosexual. Besides, don't we have problems with over-population already? Also, I wonder if the pope has heard about adoption. There are numerous orphaned and abandoned children the world over who could be adopted by gay parents -- children who, otherwise, might not have had a chance at survival. No, God doesn't often listen to their prayers -- he has to help Tim Tebow win. The best solution to the Catholic Church's problem would be to allow his clergy to marry. That would kill two birds with one stone. No threats of a dwindling population, no sexually frustrated priests to molest little boys.

The pope said that the education of children needed the proper 'settings' of a traditional family. I would easily be able to find millions of less intelligent, less articulate children from traditional families than Zach Wahls who was raised by two lesbians in Iowa. I end with a quote from a speech he made supporting gay rights in the Iowa legislature.

"The sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other. To work through the hard times so that we can enjoy the good ones. It comes from the love that binds us. That's what makes a family."